Long ago, if you wanted to put on a good taxpayer revolt, you marched in the streets, waved flaming torches, and maybe dumped a load of British tea into the harbor.

Today, you go on the “John and Ken Show.”

John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou have roused the masses, and their show on KFI-AM (640) talk radio has become Southern California’s rant room for those who are fed up with government spending, government bailouts and government tax hikes.

The show has hit a special nerve, Kobylt and Chiampou say, in the Inland Empire, which is suffering the worst extremes of the national recession, with record foreclosure and unemployment rates.

“The Inland Empire is the most emotional, most passionate, most involved part of our audience,” said Kobylt, interviewed along with Chiampou on Thursday at their Burbank studio. “They’re the ones who call the most, email the most, and show up for events the most.”

Chiampou confirmed the point. “We did a rally in Riverside,” he said, “and the crowd was just huge. I’m telling you, it was huge.”

Kobylt added, “The Inland Empire is a real driving force as far as what’s happening, on the ground level, in California.”

What’s happening is rampant talk of tax revolt.

Taxpayers are upset, not just in California, but from coast to coast.

There have been rallies in Seattle, in Phoenix, in Denver and in New York. Angry citizens are bombarding the offices of their elected public officials with pork rinds and tea bags, meant to symbolize “pork barrel” spending and unfair taxation.

Tea bags, of course, also are a reminder that Americans have been battling taxes since before the founding of the nation. The Boston Tea Party of 1773, in which colonists threw British tea into Boston Harbor rather than pay taxes on it, was a direct precursor to the Revolutionary War.

Legions of today’s taxpayers are just as angry at the prospect of paying new taxes to bail out, as they see it, an underperforming government and a failing economy.

Golden state

Emotions are especially high in California, where the recession has hit hard, and where taxes already are high.

When state lawmakers in late February, after a crippling four-month stalemate, passed a compromise budget that includes $12.5 billion in tax increases, an outcry was heard – nowhere more loudly than on the airwaves commanded by Kobylt and Chiampou.

The radio hosts called for the heads of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and selected legislators deemed to have reneged on no-tax pledges. They even added symbolic graphics to their “John and Ken Show” Web site, showing the severed heads of the lawmakers being hoisted on pikes and swords.

Prominent on the hit list are assemblymen Anthony Adams, R-Claremont; Jeff Miller, R-Corona; and Paul Cook, R-Yucaipa. Recall efforts against all three are vociferously supported on the “John and Ken Show.”

Adams said he voted with the Democrats to support the compromise budget because he felt the future of California was at stake. “I hate taxes, but we were facing a crisis that couldn’t be fixed any other way,” he said.

He has found no forgiveness on the “John and Ken Show,” however. And, while he rebuffs calls for his ouster from the Assembly (“I am not going to go down without a fight”), he did on Thursday resign his position as chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Party.

Cook, for his part, voted against the budget, but he supports Proposition 1A on the May ballot, a measure that proponents say will limit government spending, but opponents say will extend tax increases.

“While conspiracy theorists are busy spinning tall tales that make good radio copy, Proposition 1A is actually pretty simple,” he said. “Prop 1A allows voters to either place a spending limit in the state constitution by voting yes, or to reduce the tax increase from four years to two years through a no vote. This was my first opportunity to vote on a real spending cap, and I voted for it then just as I would today.”

The “John and Ken Show” Web site urges voters to “call Assemblyman Paul Cook and tell him he’s an idiot.”

Earlier this month, in the aftermath of the budget vote, Kobylt and Chiampou led a rally in Fullerton where an estimated 15,000 people turned up to support a taxpayer revolt. They waved signs and banners, and chanted “Heads on Sticks!” and “Revolt! Recall! Repeal!”

The turnout was a surprise even to Kobylt and Chiampou.

“We didn’t have the foggiest notion we would have so many people there,” Kobylt said. “But they were there, and they were there for a purpose. The purpose is to vote down Proposition 1A on May 19, because it extends the tax increases from two years to four years. The purpose is to get the word out to everyone that our legislators are liars. The purpose is to gather support to recall Schwarzenegger, Anthony Adams, Jeff Miller and everyone else.”

Kobylt and Chiampou, whose radio ratings have skyrocketed by 30 percent since the first of the year, hammered home these points during all four hours of Thursday’s show (3 to 7 p.m.), urging listeners to join the tax revolt, join the recall efforts, join the campaign against Proposition 1A.

It’s a burgeoning movement, to be sure, with not only rallies but mail and call-in campaigns, partisan Web sites such as www.CaTaxRevolt.com, www.teapartyrevolt.com and www.newamericanteaparty.com, and even merchandise. T-shirts, bumperstickers, even glassware emblazoned with such slogans as “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “Revolt Like It’s 1776” are available for sale.

Retro-revolt

California taxpayers have had blood in their eyes since 1978, when they joined an effort mounted by anti-tax crusader Howard Jarvis to pass Proposition 13, which not only capped property tax rates but established a rule that all future tax increases must be approved by a two-thirds majority of the state Legislature. The “Two-Thirds Rule” played a prominent role in the state’s recent budget impasse.

Now, 30 years after Prop 13, the flames of tax revolt are being fanned again. As Jon Coupal, spokesman for a rejuvenated Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, put it: “All Californians are pinching pennies. It’s time for the government to follow suit.”

And perhaps it’s not too surprising, in a state that has sent entertainers like Clint Eastwood, Sonny Bono, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan to positions of political power ranging from mayor to president, that a pair of radio talkers seem to be directing the current tax debate.

For their part, Kobylt and Chiampou say they are heralds, not heroes.

“It’s wrong to call me Republican activist, because I’m not a Republican and I’m not an activist,” Kobylt said. “We aren’t telling people to do anything. We’re just helping to put information out there. We’re helping people to talk to each other.”

Chiampou agreed. “People feel like they have no place at the table. We’re giving them a place at the table,” he said. “We’re giving them a time and a place to speak out.”

Of course, the tax debate isn’t being heard only on the “John and Ken Show.” Many other radio and TV talkers including Rush Limbaugh, Jon Stewart, Howard Stern and Oprah Winfrey have joined the fray. And citizens are making themselves heard not only on the air, but on the Internet, and on the opinion pages of newspapers.

Dissenting opinions

While the voices of revolt and anger may be the loudest, it’s important to remember that the tax debate is in fact a debate, even on the “John and Ken Show.” There are differences of opinion. There is more than one side.

“Assemblyman Adams should be commended rather than condemned, for putting politics aside so that we can begin the important work of rebuilding California,” said Mila Arroyo of Whittier.

“Our officials in Sacramento have brought new meaning to dishonesty and ripping off the public,” said Alex Varga of Apple Valley.

“These times require courage, compassion and the rational leadership that Anthony Adams has shown,” said Sophia Rocco of Crestline. “It took enormous courage to hold the state of California above his own personal desires for power, acceptance by his colleagues and re-election.”

It’s a debate that seems sure to continue for some time to come. A tax revolt rally is planned for 10 a.m. March 28 on all four corners of Foothill and Day Creek boulevards in Rancho Cucamonga. Similar rallies are in the works at locations throughout the Southland.

Kobylt and Chiampou promise to keep an eye on their prized Inland Empire audience. “We’re up for whatever the public decides to do out there,” Kobylt said. “If people get their recall efforts organized, we’ll do as many shows out there as it takes.”